Sunday, January 6, 2013

U.S. History I (to 1877) Spring 2013 Syllabus


Instructor: Maya Rook
Contact Info: mayarook@yahoo.com

I’m available to speak with any student upon scheduling an appointment for a mutually convenient time either before or after class. If this time is not convenient, I can arrange my schedule to meet you on another day or time. Likewise, feel free to email if you have any questions about class.

Textbook:  Jennifer D. Keene, Saul Cornell, and Edward T. O’Donell Visions of America: A History of the United States, Volume I: to 1877

Course Description: This course surveys the history of the United States from the pre-Columbian period to the end of Reconstruction (1877). It analyzes the political, economic, social, and intellectual events of Native American history, colonial history, the American Revolution and Constitution, the early national period, expansion, slavery, and the sectional differences leading to the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Course Requirements

1. Attendance and Participation: It is critical that each student attends each class. This class is built on the principal that every enrolled student makes an important, distinctive contribution to class discussion. You are expected to READ, to THINK, to SPEAK, and to LEARN. Your voice counts. This class will be better if you are in it! If you need to miss class, please inform me as soon as possible.

2. Assignments: In order to develop your ability to critically analyze and interpret the past, students are expected to complete in-class and homework assignments throughout the semester. You will be required to read a document, look at an image, or view a video online and respond to the question that accompanies the document. Various chapters from the textbook will also be assigned throughout the semester.

3. Mid-Term Exam: The mid-term exam will take place in class on Thursday, February 28. It will cover material from the first half of the semester. A mid-term review will be held the week prior to the exam.

4. Final Project: The final project will be due in class on April 16. It will consist of an essay and a creative element OR a research paper. This topic for this project can be from any material covered during the entire semester. Proposals for the final project are due March 21.


Grading

Attendance and Participation 20%
Assignments 30%
Mid-Term Exam 25%
Final Project 25%


Class Schedule
T Jan 8: Introduction
Th Jan 10: Native American Culture
·      Chapter 1: People in Motion

T Jan 15: Contact between Cultures
·      Chapter 2: Models of Settlement
Th Jan 17: Utilizing primary documents and writing historical essays

T Jan 22: Colonial Virginia and Enslavement
·      Response on the Middle Passage due
Th Jan 24: Middle Colonies: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

T Jan 29: New England Puritanism
·      Response on City Upon a Hill due
Th Jan 31: The Salem Witch Trials
·      Response on Salem Witch Trial transcript due

T Feb 5: Eighteenth Century Intellectual Movements 
·      Response on artwork due
·      Chapter 3: Growth, Slavery, and Conflict
Th Feb 7: Toward the Revolution           
·      Chapter 4: Revolutionary America
           
T Feb 12: The Declaration of Independence
·      Response on Declaration due
·      Response on Pursuit of Happiness (in class)
Th Feb 14: John Adams (film)

T Feb 19: The Constitution
·      Response on Bill of Rights due
·      Chapter 5: A Virtuous Republic
Th Feb 21: Midterm Review
T Feb 26: Creating an American Culture
·      Response on Changing Education Paradigms (in class)
·      Chapter 6: The New Republic
Th Feb 28: MIDTERM

T Mar 5: Jefferson and Jackson
·      Chapter 7: Jeffersonian America
·      Chapter 8: Democrats and Whigs
Th Mar 7: Westward Expansion
·      Response on Donner Party due
·      Chapter 11: To Overspread the Continent
                       
T Mar 12: NO CLASS           
Th Mar 17: NO CLASS           
                       
T Mar 19: Landscape Art and Transcendentalism
·      Response on art video (in class)
Th Mar 21: Civil Disobedience
·      Proposals Due
·      Response on Civil Disobedience due

T Mar 26: Women’s Rights
·      Response on Declaration of Sentiments due
·      Chapter 10: Revivalism, Reform, and Artistic Renaissance
Th Mar 28: Conditions of Slavery and Forms of Slave Resistance
·      Chapter 9: Workers, Farmers, and Slaves
                       
T Apr 2: Abolitionism
·      Response on Frederick Douglass due
·      Chapter 12: Slavery and Sectionalism
Th Apr 4: The Civil War
·      Response on Gettysburg Address due
·      Chapter 13: A Nation Torn Apart
                       
T Apr 9: Popular Memory of the Civil War
Th Apr 11: Reconstruction
·      Chapter 14: Now That We Are Free
                       
T April 16: Final Projects Due/Presentations
Th Apr 18: In-Class Essay and End-of-Semester Celebration!

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